For the most part mine would work on a hold-by-hold basis as opposed to cities I guess (with where their HQ's initial placement are based), and I was approaching it with a public turned highly trained militia with mainly Nords with a few exceptions, those details I haven't ironed out completely yet - but basically all groups originating in Skyrim. I like your Blackwood company idea migrating from Cyrodil, and it leaves you with flexible design approaches for each team. None of them essential but Captains fairly hard to kill, with the other members being very expendable. Maybe a mini-quest where you have to generate interest in each group for people to join? I spent a fair while mood boarding/ pulling together different looks for each so if this ever becomes a reality I have a rough idea what each group will look like. A reputation system between the player and the groups would be good. Maybe some implementation of Ether dynamics AI stuff too? All stuff you've thought of I guess, our biggest varying component would more than likely be the design of the individual groups I guess. If there's anything specific you wanna talk about, feel free :)